Manufacturing is not a dirty word

I want to applaud the effort by GE to promote the “Industrial Internet” in many of its new marketing campaigns and materials. As a marketer involved every day with the manufacturing world, I am excited to see the revival of North American manufacturing activity and the use of the Internet to dramatically enhance our competitiveness in the global market.

Using the Internet to connect not only machinery, but operational data and people, has the potential to bring enormous benefits to manufacturers. GE is working aggressively to exploit these efficiencies, changing the way people interact with information and improving the way they work each and every day. They are even developing some fun marketing tactics and a few quirky ads to help people connect with these important concepts.

Those of us in the manufacturing world have been using the Internet for a variety of technology transfer activities for many years: webinars, online training, service and support activities, ecommerce, customer care activities and much more. With the explosion of mobile devices and collaboration tools, the speed of information flow and the ability to process information has become more important than ever.

Companies like Makino are embracing this rapidly evolving technology with tools like MP Max, our Machine Productivity Maximizer, which allows companies to visualize the factory floor and information flow from our machines. Manufacturing companies can maximize the utilization of machines, manage production schedules, power consumption, and tool data all in real time.

Our industry association has established MT Connect, an open, royalty free communication standard intended to foster greater interoperability between devices and various software applications which are all designed to empower software developers to construct and implement applications which will provide for improved production and productivity. These tools will improve our business decisions and competitiveness.

Manufacturing is not a dirty word. This is cutting-edge technology—factories of the future that will build wealth for a new generation of Americans. These elements need to be marketed to an entire new generation of young people so they can understand the career potential that is waiting for them. Let's help our young people think about manufacturing as a viable and exciting future! GE's website lists 5,165 open positions worldwide!